


mutual agreements (are worse than broken hearts)

by doodlingstories



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Break Up, F/M, set after the disaster that was 2.09, this isn't a barchie fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-03-16 02:04:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13626255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doodlingstories/pseuds/doodlingstories
Summary: He’s silent, thinking of what to say.(When, really, there isn’t much else to be said)Except…"Is it because of him? He’s back, you know.”She doesn’t respond immediately, and her silence speaks louder than any words ever could.--or; the fic where betty and archie break up, and jughead is back from the southside





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by three empty words by shawn mendes

The young woman sits there, hands in her lap, tracing the scars in her palms. She looks up, and sees a young redheaded boy waving at a young blonde girl, a huge grin on his face as he points at himself, and then points to the goal in front of him. The young girl smiles, and runs towards him, throwing her arms around him as congratulations for scoring.

 

She sits by the field, not too far away from old schools and ancient diners. The field is large, and the grass is a deep dark green, the color of freshly cut grass. It smells like freshly cut grass too, and the young woman scrunches her nose slightly as she takes in the scent, not being particularly fond of the musky, moist yet herbal scent. She hated the scent (god, she hated it).

 

Suddenly, the young woman hears the loud steps of someone she knew. And, although she knows he’s coming, she doesn’t turn around to greet him. She stays put, hands in her lap, silently awaiting his arrival.

 

"Hi," he greets her, giving her a quick peck on the cheek, and sits down next to her.

 

The kiss doesn’t make her heart beat faster like it used to.

 

Betty Cooper still remembered the way her heart beat faster, the way her cheeks had warmed up, the quick breaths she took, the way he’d made her feel. He had placed his hands on her cheeks, soft and warm. Then, he’d kissed her. Sweet and innocent, the way children often kiss. And after, he had smiled. And he’d said, “Betty, will you marry me?”. And she’d just smiled shyly whilst she told him, “Oh Archie, we’re far too young. Ask me again when we’re grownups, and I might say yes!”.

 

His smile, although boyish and mischievous, had felt so pure at the time. It was so  _pure_. Kind of like him.

 

But that was before.

 

"Hi." she says, and places a loose strand of hair behind her ear, unsure of what to say. She opens her mouth; she wants to say  _something_. But, these days, she never knows what to say. Neither of them do.

 

"Listen..." she starts, but the redhead places his hand on hers, and he does it delicately, slowly, as though he was afraid to ruin a perfectly carved sculpture. The softness of his movements is such a contrast to his hair; the flaming red is harsh, and so utterly angry, that the juxtaposition of it all almost fits him too well.

 

"I know." he simply says.

 

They hadn't spoken about it, but they both knew. They had both felt it.

 

Or rather, they hadn’t felt anything at all.

 

"Oh." 

 

_I love you_. The three words used to mean so much. It meant everything. She had meant it when she'd told him that she loved him. But maybe, just maybe, it hadn’t been the kind of love suited for them. And maybe (just maybe) the reason she couldn’t love him _like that_ was because her heart was still set on another young man; the young man from the wrong side of the tracks.

 

"Betty... Maybe if we just-"

 

"No, Archie. I… We both know that this isn't going to work out anymore. I can't keep pretending, Arch. I can't. And I know breakups are supposed to be messy, and that the one breaking up isn't supposed to be heartbroken,” she doesn’t tell him that her heart isn’t broken because of him (she wishes that Archie was the reason for her heartbreak; god, it would’ve made everything so much easier).

 

She continues, “I  _wish_  you would yell at me, because it would make this so easy.  _So easy_. Because this silent mutual agreement that we have going on? It's killing me inside, Arch. And it hurts so much. _So_ much. Because we’re stringing each other along, Archie. And it’s not healthy."

 

He’s silent, thinking of what to say.

 

(When, really, there isn’t much else to be said)

 

Except…"Is it because of him? He’s back, you know.”

 

She doesn’t respond immediately, and her silence speaks louder than any words ever could.

 

“Yes. I know.” Betty answers both of his questions, but makes him think that she’s only answering the latter.

 

She shouldn’t be fighting back her tears because of the boy from the wrong side of the tracks. _It’s so messed up_ , she thinks. It’s messed up that her heart is still set on _him_ , and not on Archie. Archie was the person she’d just broken up with. Archie was the person she thought she’d loved her entire life; until _he_ came, sweeping her off her feet in a swift motion, and then suddenly letting her go, making her fall harder than she’d ever thought possible.

 

Archie doesn't let go of her hand; instead, he squeezes it lightly.

 

“We’ll still be friends, right? Best friends?” he softly asks, and looks at her, heartbreak apparent in his eyes.

 

Betty breathes out, releasing the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding in, as she says, “Of course. But it’ll take time. And it will be weird, only for a little bit. That’s… sort of inevitable. But we’ll… we’ll…” she struggles to find the words, struggles to describe how they will recover.

 

(Will they recover? Will they? Won’t they? They won’t. No. They will.)

 

“We’ll be okay.” Archie finishes her sentence in simple words, like he often does. He lets go of her hand, and she finds that she doesn’t miss its warmth.

 

“Yeah.”

 

(They will.)

 

She breathes through her nose, and thinks about how much she hates the scent of freshly cut grass.

 

(But most of all, she thinks about all the times they’d told each other those three empty words, the times they’d thought they’d been in love, when really, they hadn’t been; not a little bit, no, not at all.)


	2. two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> despite the fact that not too many people have read this, i felt inclined to publish a second part to this... so... enjoy!

Jughead Jones is a hypocrite. He knows he is; he doesn’t need to be told.

 

Still, whilst he knows this about himself, it didn't hurt any less when Toni told him, “ _You’re a pretty shitty boyfriend. Who the fuck tells their girlfriend that they can’t keep secrets, when you’ve got more secrets in your backpack than you can fucking carry?_ ” 

 

He sits on the sofa, laptop open in front of him, the whiteness of the blank page blinding him slightly.

 

He wants to write about it. About her, and about the black hood. He wants to write about the reason she’d broken up with him, but finds it’s so god damn difficult to do so; it just doesn’t feel _right_. Toni’s words repeat themselves in his head like a god damned mantra when he tries to. 

 

Because deep down, he knows Toni is right. He’s a shitty boyfriend.

 

_Was_. He _was_ a shitty boyfriend.

 

(They aren’t together anymore. He needs to remember that. It doesn’t help that it hurts to think about it)

 

He has no right to write about her breaking up with him; not when he’d broken up with her just a few weeks later.

 

Jughead slams shut the laptop in frustration, the blinding whiteness of the screen finally becoming too much for him to handle. 

 

Still lost in his own thoughts, Jughead is only slightly startled when his father bursts into the trailer, furious and sad.

 

Before Jughead manages to even open his own mouth, his father growls, “You’re not gonna go down the same path I did. You’re damn lucky Penny isn’t suing you for your stupidity, Jughead.” 

 

His father looks like he’s going to simultaneously cry tears of sadness and scream at him out of rage.

 

FP does neither of those things. 

 

Instead, he tells Jughead in a soft manner, “I can’t let you do this to yourself, Jug. I can’t believe I didn’t see if before. Fuck. _Fuck_!”

 

“Dad-”

 

“The Southside has been a bad influence. You’re going back to Riverdale High, whether you like it or not.”

 

Jughead immediately begins to protest, because _fuck, fuck, fuck_ , he _can’t_ go back there. Not now, not when he’s finally found a place he fits in. Not now, when everyone on the Northside has got something against the people from the Southside.

 

(Faintly, in the back of his mind, he recognizes that the true reason he doesn’t want to go back isn’t any of that. _She’ll_ be there, _with Archie_ , and Jughead _knows_ it’ll hurt worse than when he broke up with her.)

 

(But he’ll never admit it out loud)

 

“You’re going back there, Jughead. There’s no need to waste your breath fighting me.”

 

FP leaves the trailer faster than he’d entered it, mumbling about speaking to the Masons before he shuts the door with a slam.

 

 

 

 

As it turns out, Jerry Mason owed FP a favor.

 

Jughead stands on the doorstep, the familiar weight of his gigantic camping satchel on his shoulders weighing him down slightly.

 

The house is so incredibly domestic, with its white picket fence and carefully trimmed garden. It’s so achingly familiar, so _painfully_ familiar, that the hole in Jugheads stomach grows and grows until it physically hurts. Jughead tries to tell himself that the stomachache is because of hunger.

 

(It isn’t.)

 

(The house reminds him of her.)

 

(Stop thinking about her, stop thinking about her, _stop thinking about her_ )

 

 

 

 

When Jughead wakes up in the middle of the night, his throat is drier than the Sahara. He finds himself sneaking downstairs to fetch something to drink, when he suddenly bumps into something at the bottom of the stairs in the dark.

 

“Jughead? What the hell.”

 

“What- Kevin?”

 

“What are you doing here?” they whisper-yell simultaneously.

 

Kevin gives his reason first, “Moose wanted to… uhm- we were playing Dungeons & Dragons. And we kind of forgot the time.”

 

Jughead knows that Kevin is lying through his teeth, but doesn’t comment on it. He, although no one has explicitly told him, knows that Kevin and Moose often fool around. Kevin cocks his head, as if to say ‘Well? And you?’. Jughead hesitates, before sighing, and scratching the back of his head slightly.

 

“My dad- he, uhm, he kind of threw me out. Said the Southside was a bad influence. And Jerry owed my dad a favor, so…”

 

Kevin blinked, “So, you’re back? You’ll be back at Riverdale High? The rumors are true, then?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Right,” Kevin says, lips curled slightly as he gives Jughead a scrutinizing glance. He turns to the door, getting ready to put on his outerwear, before he looks at Jughead as if he’d just remembered something.

 

“Oh, by the way- she broke up with him. In case you wanted to know.” Kevin’s eyes are glinting with something akin to mischief. Jughead’s heart jumps.

 

(She, he reminds himself, could be anyone. Kevin hadn’t said a name. It isn’t Betty. Betty is with Archie, and Betty is happy. Betty is with Archie. Betty is happy.)

 

( _BettyiswithArchie_. _Bettyishappy_. _BettyiswithArchieBettyishappyBettyisWithArchieBettyBettyBetty_ )

 

“Who?” he tries to play oblivious, tries to calm himself down, tries to kill the hope blossoming in his heart and soul.

 

Kevin snorts, “Please. Toni told Cheryl _who told me_ that you’re still not over her. That you, and I quote Cheryl who quoted Toni, ‘ _don’t think you’ll ever be over her, but it’s okay, as long as she’s safe and happy’_. You know _exactly_ who I’m talking about.”

 

And with that, Kevin really turns around, and gets ready to leave the Mason household. Jughead nearly sighs in relief when he does (though, he doesn’t, because Kevin is still there, and Kevin would most definitely interpret his sigh as something else). He decides, out of politeness, to wait until Kevin is out of the house before he goes for his cup of water.

 

Right before Kevin leaves, however, he turns to Jughead, and softly says, “Completely off the record- I don’t think she’s completely over you, either.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> part three is coming in... idk... i'll probably write it this summer or something

**Author's Note:**

> if you find any mistakes, do let me know!


End file.
